Tale
Folk-Tales of Andros Island, Bahamas
Elsie Clews Parsons · 1918
Synopsis
A hundred and fifteen tales collected mostly on the island of Andros, and a few in Nassau, each tied by a number to its teller, whose list gives the name, age and village, from old women storytellers to schoolchildren of Nicolls Town. Rabby, the cunning rabbit, plays his tricks on Boukee, whose name is said to come from the Wolof word for the hyena; Jack measures himself against someone stronger than he is, and the tar baby, Cinderella, the brave little tailor, witches and a princess who would not laugh stand side by side.
Context
The collection appeared in 1918 in the Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, a year after a survey of the riddles of the same island given to the society's journal. The author lodged at Mastic Point and at Mangrove Cay, listened to the storytellers in the evening, the time when tales are told, and also noted down those of Grantstown, a suburb of Nassau. She records the opening and closing formulas, among them “Once was a time, a wery good time”, and names Pa Black, a Jamaican settled at Mangrove Cay, as the best storyteller of the place; notes compare each tale with its versions from Africa and the United States.
Who it is for
Brief tales, recorded in the English of the Bahamian storytellers without translation; the full text can be read freely online.
Prizes and reception
Her versions are still used by the folklorists of the Library of Congress to compare the Bahamian Jack tales.
Sources for this page 6
The pages consulted to check this page.